Royal Dutch Shell PLC has shut down a pipeline in Nigeria after oil thieves caused a fire as they stole oil from the line, MarketWatch reported.

The company’s Nigerian subsidiary shut down the Bomu-Bonny trunk line, part of the Trans-Niger Pipeline, according to MarketWatch.

The shutdown of the line will reduce production by about 150,000 barrels of oil a day, Shell said, according to The Associated Press.

The company said it will investigate the theft and repair the line after it puts out the fire, MarketWatch reported. Last year, Shell lost 11,806 barrels of crude oil in 118 different cases of sabotage and theft.

"This incident clearly demonstrates the scale of the oil theft problem which, alongside the hundreds of illegal refineries in the Delta, is having such a profound effect on the people, communities and the environment," Shell's Vice President for Health, Safety, Environment & Corporate Affairs, Sub-Saharan Africa, Tony Attah, told MarketWatch. "Until these activities are brought to a halt there will be no improvement in the environmental situation.”

Shell produced about 800,000 barrels of oil a day in Nigeria in 2011, the AP reported.

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